During the protests in Egypt, there were a number of western reporters who were beaten or mistreated in various ways. Some of their stories were reported, some were not. One of the reporters, 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan, was sexually assaulted during the protests.
Michael Graham posted a story at the Boston Herald yesterday about how CBS handled the story of that assault. CBS did not run the story until five days after the assault. In the meantime, they praised President Obama for his handling of the Egyptian crisis.
Mr. Graham comments:
""The sexual assault of a woman in the middle of a public square is a story . . . particularly because the crowd in Tahrir Square was almost invariably characterized as friendly and out for nothing but democracy," Cohen wrote.
"Watching the same complicit media we all saw, Cohen notes most journalists covered the mobs "as if they were reporting from Times Square on New Year's Eve, stopping only at putting on a party hat."
"Even CBS's own statement said Logan was "covering the jubilation" and was attacked "amidst the celebration."
"Having 200 "good guys" gang assault a female reporter while screaming "Jew! Jew!" doesn't fit the narrative. Is that why CBS sat on the story?"
There was definitely a side of the protests that the media was reluctant to show. Does anyone remember that after the war in Iraq, CNN admitted that it had not reported a lot of the human rights abuses going on in Iraq before the war because they were afraid of being asked to leave the country? Does anyone remember 'Baghdad Bob?'
Speaking of the Islamic culture, Mr. Graham further points out:
"I would point her (Slate.com's Rachel Larimore) to the 2008 broadcast on the Al-Aribiya network of a female (!) lawyer arguing that it's OK for Muslim men to sexually assault Israeli women, because the Jews have "raped the land." Or this week's story of Hena, the 14-year-old Bangladeshi girl raped by a family member, then sentenced to 100 lashes by Muslim authorities for having sex out of wedlock. After 80 lashes, Hena died."
Ms. Larimore pointed out at Slate.com that she wondered if the incident with Ms. Logan was an isolated incident or the result of men being raised in a culture that treats women as second-class citizens.
The bottom line here is that all cultures are not created equally and all revolutions are not equal. The protests in the Middle East may not bring freedom and equality to the people who are asking to be free. We can't assume that everyone in the world has the same concept of freedom that western cultures embrace.
Leave a comment